Initially I blamed it on my habit of picking up used magazines. I thought that someone had dumped non-drop free magazines on me without being honest. I wasn't sure, though because I could clearly see the metal liners which mark Glock drop-free magazines.

Over the past 2 days, though, I decided to get all my Glocks together for a big clean up. I dug out all the magazines and made sure they were empty, then tested them.

The ones that had been giving me drop-free problems were still problematic, plus a few others. Every one with metal liners.

Then I started playing with two similar guns that would take magazines from each other, the G 22 and the G 17. Magazines that hung up in the G 22 dropped free from the G 17! Something was up.

One difference was that the G 17 had been fitted with an extended mag release. It was done by a previous owner, not by me.

That kind of, sort of made sense but did I really need to fit my Glocks with those extended mag releases?

The sticky magazines showed a characteristic when pushed into the G 22. There was a point where they were a little snug, requiring a little more effort to push all the way in. This point did not happen in the mag well of the G 17.

The 17 was low mileage when I swapped for it. The previous owner apparently didn't enjoy it much. Visual inspection turned up fewer scuffs inside the mag well of the G 17 than in the G 22.

It started making sense. The mags were hanging up due to friction in the mag well. Extended magazine releases aren't the solution. Clean magazine wells were. And clean magazine bodies. Used magazines were often a little dirty and I hadn't spent much time on the magazine well of the G 22 or the G 23.

First I cleaned the mag wells with M Pro 7 then applied a thin layer of Corrosion X, then wiped off the Corrosion X, leaving just the residue on the mag wells and magazine bodies.

Cleaning and VERY LIGHT lubing of the magazine wells and the magazine bodies left my magazines in drop free condition, empty and with the same magazine releases that had been present when I started.

Make sure not to leave a visible layer of lube on any of these surfaces. Magazine wells are below the chamber and capture some measure of particles from the cycling action. You want to leave the area clean and dry so the particles don't have any place to form into sludge.

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I have found that a little spray silicone helps keep the inside of the magazine well slick and aids in drop free action, and should not harm primers as a petroleum lube might. I am not familiar with Corrosion X and am not referring to that particular lube.

As you correctly noted cleanliness is key and not over lubing helps to keep it that way.

Hyunchback wrote:One difference was that the G 17 had been fitted with an extended mag release. It was done by a previous owner, not by me.

That kind of, sort of made sense but did I really need to fit my Glocks with those extended mag releases?nt

I would bet that is exactly the problem. I know it stinks, but part of the glock charm

I have stood at many an IDPA match looking at my gun and wondering why the mag wont fall out! FWIW, I install an extended release and sand it down with a nail file (round off the corners). I am not able to install them on the sub-compact models because it causes me to drop the magazine with my hand after each shot.